Hey All

I have been looking through the Grade 8 syllabus, hoping to take the exam in the next year but I have a problem; my hands are very small. My left can comfortably stretch the octave but my right hand can't. I found it hard playing Beethoven's 'Allegretto in C Minor' at Grade 7 and now I need some advice.

Can anyone lead me in the direction of pieces in the 09/10 syllabus that would be suited to small hands as I have absolutely no idea. And tips and tricks on how to play other pieces would be great but it's really embarrassing playing what should be an impressive octave passage when you keep missing the notes or hitting others!

Many thanks for your help guys!

x

Hi
I'm new to this forum so this is my first post.
I can only suggest a piece for list B. It is the Haydn from the alternative pieces.

I am learning it myself. There are octaves in the right hand but the notes are never played at the same time but after one another. It is also one of the shortest pieces, my copy is 5 pages long. I would say that for small hands Mozart or Haydn would be easier than Beethoven.
The link is to the IMSLP site where you can download a free copy of the Haydn Sonata. I would not risk taking that to the exam but you can use it to look through the piece. The hard passage would be at the bottom of the 2nd page, page 8 of the below link, if you can do that, you will be fine.

http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Haydn%2C_Joseph

For list C I started on the Brahms piece, the tenths are played as arpeggios but you do need octaves in the RH. But list C is long so you can probably find another better suited piece.

Yes, just to agree with Prins, I have small hands and have opted for Haydn and Brahms. The Brahms is stretchy but slow, and that works for me. I'm spreading all the chords that have 10ths in.

For list C, I would definitely avoid C4 and 6 as they have 10th stretches. C1 and 2 have a couple of RH octaves in, C5 has too. C3 (moto perpetuo) is possibly the best bet out of the book as it's all one note after another, so although there's a couple of big leaps, the furthest apart notes played simultaneously have a fifth between them.

From the alternative list, I only have the Liszt and Gershwin, both of which have RH octaves.

For the A list, there are 2 Bach pieces which could be suitable - especially the Sinfonia in C Minor, because the chords in the first part sound lovely when they are spread (instead of playing them as block chords, which can be a bit stale). The rest of the piece requires nimble fingers and not really any strethes at all.

For the C piece, there are a few you could do - notably the Liszt Consolation, which is beautiful, elegant and would be great for small hands. (there are a few octaves in the right hand, but thay are slow and as you said you can reach an octave in the right hand, it would probably be ok)

In terms of the B piece, I think you'd have to try a few of them and see. I think that the Beethoven in the selected pieces book could be good, but then there are a couple of double octaves in the left hand for a couple of bars. The Mozart alternative pieces might be worth looking at.

I have the same problem. I haven't started A or B yet but I have started Alligator Crawl. There are 10ths in it but you can roll them if you get me.

Is this B1 in the 2008-09 book? 2009-10? I'd actually avoid this piece if you have small hands, there are a number of of octaves in the right hand on the second page, and are repeated further on in the piece, and when played at the proper speed is quite difficult. I wouldn't see the left hand octaves that appear on the first page as a problem, as they are only crotchets, where as the right hand plays quavers.

It may just be that i'm not a very good pianist!(highly likely!) I have quite small hands, I can easily play 9ths using my right hand, which aren't very useful, but I can play 10ths easily in the left hand, which is a little odd!

Jacob.

Edit: Got the year of the book wrong, I was refering to the current grade 8 pieces!

How about Grade 7(09-10)? which pieces are suitable for small hands?

Yea, fast right hand octaves are hard! I can stretch a ninth with my left! Oh I don't know, maybe I should draft in a composer!!!